This invention relates to high energy and high power density electrochemical cells and more particularly to an improved silver vanadium oxide material and its preparation for use as a cathode material in such cells.
Silver vanadium oxide (SVO) is generally already known and used in batteries. Its preparation for use in batteries by means of a decomposition reaction is also well known. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,609 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,729.
In the latter patents, the decomposition reaction ##STR1## is disclosed for preparing SVO. This reaction is accompanied by the evolution of gaseous products.
It has also been suggested that SVO can be prepared by addition or combination reactions. See Liang U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,729 (col. 2, l 35-37); Etudes sur les systemes V-Ag-O et V-Cu-O, par Bernard Raveau, "Revue de Chimie minerale, t.4, 1967, p. 729.; No. 668. - Sur quelques nouvelles phases non-stoechiometriques du systeme Ag.sub.2 O-V.sub.2 O.sub.5 -VO.sub.2. l.-Etude chimique et cristallographique, par Andre Casalot et Michel Pouchard, "Bulletin De La Societe Chimique De France", 1967 N.degree. 10, and Diffusion of Silver in Silver Vanadium Bronzes, B. B. Scholtens, "Mat. Res. Bull.", Vol. 11, pp. 1533-1538, 1976, Pergamon Press, Inc.